Webmaster Hardware Forum

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the world's top flat-screen maker, said on Thursday it expected prices of liquid crystal displays (LCD) to fall as much as a fifth by the end of the year on growing supply.

Plasma - great for home cinema above 40in. where the light levels in the room are carefully controlled. Disadvantages - high power consumption, limited lifespan, reliability. Plasma is losing ground to LCD panels as their size, picture quality and price continue to fall.

LCD - better for general use as a television or monitor. High contrast ratios (500:1) produce reasonable pictures in most lighting conditions. (LG have just announced a LCD panel with 5000:1 contrast ratio!) Advantages - lowish power consumption, good lifepsan, reliable (if you accept the odd faulty pixel!)

However, the future is likely to be PLED (polymer organic light-emitting diode) displays. They offer full spectrum colour, lower power consumption than plasma/LCD and higher reliability.

PLED is likely to be very cheap too. It uses a manufacturing process very similar to ink jet printing, so as volumes go up prices are going to plummet.